The Learning Journey of a Determined Striver

By Shi Guangyong

I am Shi Guangyong, currently working at Beijing Haitian Qidian Technology Co., Ltd. I have three years of experience in Oracle database management, but I have no practical experience with GBase databases.

The reasons for attending GBase database training: first, to keep pace with the times when China’s homegrown databases achieve a large market share; second, to support China’s homegrown databases, and I would feel proud to witness their rise.

My official introduction to GBase came through a recommendation from a colleague in our company group chat. I started this April, systematically studying GBase 8s and passing the exam. This time I am learning GBase 8a. Compared to GBase 8s, this has felt a bit more difficult and taken more time.

1. If you're short on time, watch the videos at least once; each additional viewing will bring you new insights.

2. Practice hands-on with the database using the PPT slides and complete the interactive in-class exercises—this helps deepen understanding and retention.

3. Before the exam, review the PPT slides and interactive exercises. (If you really don’t have time, just review your error notebook, but to score high you must also review the PPT slides.)

My understanding of GBase 8a: First, GBase 8a is a distributed cluster (shared-nothing architecture), which is quite different from the centralized Oracle (shared-everything architecture) I encountered in my previous work. Second, Oracle uses row-based storage while GBase 8a uses column-based storage—another major difference. With large data volumes, GBase 8a’s column-based storage clearly demonstrates advantages such as high compression and high query performance.

Above is a summary of my personal learning experience and my understanding of GBase 8a. I hope it helps you all. Please forgive any inaccuracies.

For intermediate-level training, I hope a bit more practical hands-on content can be included, so that trainees without real-world GBase project operation experience can quickly acquire some practical GBase project operations experience.